What is it about?
Shells of the ribbed mussel Aulacomya atra from the Patagonian gulfs of San Matıas and San Jose´ (Argentina) are commonly bored by polydorids and covered by serpulids and crustose coralline algae. As the co-occurring mussel Mytilus edulis is neither bored by polydorids nor covered by coralline algae, we hypothesize that early or previous calcareous growth would favour larval settlement and boring by polydorids. Generalized Linear Model analyses showed that polydorid boring is indeed positively correlated with the abundance of serpulids and crustose coralline alga. Infestation by polydorids is higher in larger, older ribbed mussels due to their correspondingly higher available area for larval settlement. Increasing polydorid infestation adversely affects the condition index of A. atra.
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Why is it important?
Both wild populations and marine cultured molluscs are often covered by epibionts, such as algae, sponges, bryozoans, barnacles, other molluscs, ascidians and polychaetes. Polydorid infestation is a matter of increasing concern for regional shellfisheries
Perspectives
Our models also showed that infestation is affected by geographic location and shell length and by its turn seems to affect the condition index of hosts. Future experimental studies are still needed to better assess such complex interactions.
PhD Nuria Vázquez
Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Biogenic calcareous growth on the ribbed mussel Aulacomya atra (Bivalvia: Mytilidae) favours polydorid boring (Polychaeta: Spionidae), Hydrobiologia, September 2015, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/s10750-015-2467-y.
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